Louise Slaughter

From KeyWiki

Louise McIntosh Slaughter is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 25th district of New York.

Congresswoman Louise McIntosh Slaughter is one of the most powerful and unique figures in the House of Representatives. The only microbiologist in Congress, Rep. Slaughter was first elected in 1986 and is now serving her 13th term in Congress.^[1]

Background

Rep. Slaughter, who was first elected to Congress in 1986, holds a Bachelor of Science degree (1951) in Microbiology and a Master of Science degree (1953) in Public Health from the University of Kentucky. Prior to entering Congress, she served in the New York State Assembly (1982-86) and the Monroe County (N.Y.) Legislature (1976-79); and as regional coordinator to then-Secretary of State Mario Cuomo (1976-78) and to then-Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo (1979-82).

A native of Harlan County, Kentucky, Congresswoman Slaughter has lived most of her life in Rochester's suburb of Fairport. She is married to Robert Slaughter and has three daughters and seven grandchildren.^[2]

Democratic Party influence

Congresswoman Slaughter is a member of the House Democratic Leadership. In 2007, she became the first woman to serve as Chairwoman of the influential House Committee on Rules, a position that allowed her to influence nearly every single piece of legislation that comes to the House floor for a vote. She held that position from 2007 until 2011.

Congresswoman Slaughter also services on the prestigious Democratic Steering & Policy Committee, and is Chair of two congressional caucuses: the Congressional Arts Caucus and the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, of which she was a founding member.^[3]

Women's rights

As one of the leading advocates in Congress for women's rights, Rep. Slaughter is consistently engaged in legislation and advocacy on both a local and national level. She previously served as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues in the 108th Congress, and continues to serve as co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

Along with Vice President Joe Biden and others Slaughter co-authored the historic Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and wrote legislation to make permanent the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women Office.

She is leading the fight against sexual assault in the military, and organized a hearing on the issue in March 2004 that garnered national attention. Rep. Slaughter authored an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill in FY05 to require the Pentagon to put in place comprehensive policies and procedures to deal with sexual assault in the military.

In November 2004, she introduced landmark legislation to make further changes to end sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in the military. She has continued to reintroduce this bill each Congress.

Rep. Slaughter has won historic increases in funding for women's health. As a member of the House Budget Committee in the early 1990s, she secured the first $500 million earmarked by Congress for breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She fought for legislation guaranteeing that women and minorities are included in all federal health trials and establishing an Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) at NIH and was later honored with its "Visionary for Women's Health Research" award, on the ORWH's tenth anniversary. She has also introduced a bill to direct NIH to fund up to six centers nationwide to focus on women's health and the environment, as well as a bill to increase research on the impact of hormone disruptors on women's health.^[4]

DSA support

In 1987, Democratic Socialists of America helped in Slaughter's election campaign. ^[5]

Rochester DSAers helped elect progressive Louise Slaughter...

Fred Ross, Jr. connection

New York rep. Louise Slaughter was also the first Congressmember whose election was assisted by Neighbor to Neighbor, the national grassroots organization opposed to U.S. military aid to Central America headed by United Farmworkers veteran Fred Ross, Jr. Ross learned from the UFW how to target swing districts and representatives, and his group helped build the grassroots field campaign that brought Slaughter her narrow victory.

Less than a year after Slaughter’s election, Ross and other UFW alums helped elect Nancy Pelosi to Congress. Ross and Paul Milne used “house meetings,” a strategy that Fred Ross, Sr. taught to Cesar Chavez, who then used it to build the UFW. Pelosi attended 120 house meetings in only 60 days, and after taking office joined Slaughter in leading the fight against military aid to El Salvador’s right-wing government, and to Nicaragua’s contra rebels.^[6]

Democratic Alternatives

In 1987 Louise Slaughter was a proposed speaker at the Democratic Socialists of America organized Democratic Alternatives Conference.

Anti Clarence Thomas delegation

In October 1991 Patricia Schroeder led a delegation of fellow congresswomen, including Louise Slaughter, Barbara Boxer, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nita Lowey, Patsy Mink and Jolene Unsoeld to the Senate to urge a delay of the vote on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the supreme court.^[7]

Supported by Council for a Livable World

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Louise Slaughter in her successful House of Representatives run as candidate for New York.^[8]

Congressional Progressive Caucus

As of February 20 2009 Louise Slaughter was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[9]

Populist Caucus

The Populist Caucus was founded on February 11, 2009 in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa. The caucus originally included 26 other Democrats in the House, including Louise Slaughter.

Leading with Love

Leading with Love was an event to celebrate 5 years of the Marxist led National Domestic Workers Alliance. It was held in Washington DC, DC, November 14, 2012.

Members of the Host Committee included Louise Slaughter.^[10]

Anti-Fracking legislation endorser

On March 14, 2013, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) have introduced the Bringing Reductions to Energy’s Airborne Toxic Health Effect (BREATHE) Act, and the Focused Reduction of Effluence and Stormwater runoff through Hydraulic Environmental Regulation (FRESHER) Act, in order to ensure that the hydraulic fracking industry follows the same rules that other industries do in preserving our natural resources. This legislation is focused on ensuring the safety and the health of the communities where the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, process is already taking place.

The BREATHE Act would ensure that we close the oil and gas industry’s loophole to the Clean Air Act’s aggregation provision, in addition to adding hydrogen sulfide—a chemical associated with nausea, vomiting, headaches, and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat—to the Clean Air Act’s federal list of hazardous air pollutants.

The BREATHE Act has the following original co-sponsors including: Reps. Rush Holt, Jr., Raul Grijalva, John Sarbanes, James Moran, Michael Quigley, Earl Blumenauer, Gerald Connolly, Zoe Lofgren, Michael Honda, Paul Tonko, Barbara Lee, David Price, Carolyn Maloney, Michael Capuano, Mark Pocan, Jim McDermott, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Alcee Hastings, Keith Ellison, Niki Tsongas, William Keating, Adam Smith, Jim Langevin, Chellie Pingree, Judy Chu, Louise Slaughter, Jerrold Nadler, Grace Meng, Jan Schakowsky, Nita Lowey, Jared Huffman, Gary Peters and Alan Lowenthal.

The following organizations have endorsed this legislation and are actively working to garner support within Congress and throughout the country: Physicians for Social Responsibility, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Sierra Club, Earthworks, Breast Cancer Action, Clean Water Action, Environment America, Greenpeace, Nature Abounds, Oil Change International, Citizens for a Healthy Community, Citizens for Huerfano County, Clean Water Action Colorado, Erie Rising, Grassroots Energy Activist Network, Holy Terror Farm, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, SOS Foundation, Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County, Western Slope Conservation Center and Wilderness Workshop.^[11]

Abortion

Planned Parenthood

Slaughter received $1000 in lobbying funds from Planned Parenthood in 2008.

EMILY's List

Slaughter has been supported by EMILY's List during her campaigning.

Staff

The following are past and present staff:^[12]

External links

• Slaughter's website with the House of Representatives

References